The white flakes that fell from the sky and blanketed our city over the holidays did more than upset long-held notions about Seattle weather. They shut people in their homes. Delayed buses. Stopped deliveries. Crippled Christmas. As the garbage piled up and the street-ice thickened, some were at once thrilled and terrified at the notion of a city in standstill. It was exciting. It was interesting.

After a few hours of reading this afternoon, I snuggled down for a nap. At some point, I heard a young man hollering “No, No No! Not again! …” I judged from his voice that he was annoyed, not in danger, and content not to interfere with whatever the problem was, rolled over to snooze.

A while later, I awoke, and looking out my kitchen window, saw the snow, and uttered pretty much the same words.

Yesterday’s snow didn’t lead to citywide paralysis. But we have yet to see how well — or how poorly — the city picks itself up after the holiday storm — such a costly, discouraging, mishandled mess.

Whatever the aftermath of the holiday snowstorm — its effect on our politics, our infrastructure and our citywide self-esteem — it’s become pretty clear that we’ve been through something we don’t want to repeat.

And that we’re the only ones who can ensure we won’t.

Note: This post has changed to correctly identify the reader who commented on the snow story.